The Internet Chess Club is excited to announce its new monthly tournament with cash prizes. To be played on the first Saturday (2:00 PM Eastern Time) of each month - BLITZ 3 0 ELEVEN ROUNDS.  We'll offer cash prizes for the top finishers, as well as ICC membership time and video series giveways for class winners! 

The ICC WEEKEND SHOWDOWN is an occasion to measure your strength against super-strong players and, why not, to win one of many fantastic prizes!

1st place= $ 250

2nd place= $ 150

3rd place= $ 100

Random Draw prize system:

From each ICC The First Weekend Showdown tournament grid, 12 players will be randomly chosen for a 3-month membership. If a player already won a cash prize, he/she is not eligible for a random draw prize. If a cash winning player’s number is Randomly drawn, another player will then be chosen. All Random Draw Winners will be announced directly at the completion of each ICC First Sunday Showdown.

How to take part

No preregistration is necessary for this tournament. The fastest, easiest way to join regardless of your user interface is to login into our server about 10 minutes before the scheduled start and in the chat area type:

/tell pear join

Alternatively,
DASHER users can go to WINDOW->MY TOURNAMENTS->JOIN TOURNAMENT and click on the green join button next to the ICC OPEN tournament.
BLITZIN users can go to WINDOW->EVENTS and in the list search for the ICC OPEN tournament, click on the green join button.
ICC for MAC and ICC for Windows users can go to TOURNAMENTS and click on Join ICC OPEN Tournament

Disconnecting before the start will remove you from the tournament. If you disconnect after the start, you will not be removed automatically, but you need to return as soon as possible, or the manager will forfeit you. You can follow the tournament in channel 227. Participants will automatically be placed in this channel.

During the tournament, the standings and pairings will be available at websites which will be communicated after the start by the tournament manager. Those sites show updated info when the refresh button is pressed. 
 

RULES

• You need to have a full ICC membership to take part in this tournament. Free trials cannot play.
   
• During the tournament, a recent version of Blitzin, Dasher, ICC for Windows or ICC for Mac must be used. 
   
• A player must not enter the tournament on more than one handle, or risk being forfeited on both handles.
   
• Use of computer chess engines and databases while playing is strictly prohibited. Assistance from other players is also prohibited and will result in disqualification from this ICC First Sunday Showdown, all future ICC First Sunday Showdowns, as well as further sanctions as laid out by ICC's Agreement and Policy rules.
   
• Note that there will be NO half-point bye points for late-joining in the ICC First Sunday Showdown.
   
• Intentional rating abuse (lowering rating to enter lower class) is prohibited and may lead to disqualification from this ICC First Sunday Showdown, all future ICC First Sunday Showdowns, as well as further sanctions as laid out by ICC's Agreement and Policy rules.
   
• ICC reserves the right to use image and name of winner(s) from their online events for publicity purposes. 
   
• As the real names of the finalists will be made public, players who own free GM/WGM/IM/WIM/FM/WFM accounts on ICC are required to use their public handles in this tournament, as opposed to anonymous accounts. 
   
• The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including but not limited to: failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance, suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past. 
   
• Participants are expected to use the same computer during the whole tournament. 
   
• In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion, rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However, results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.

Class Prizes

Some tournaments will feature class prizes. The winners of the prizes will be determined by comparing their results in each tournament. For each class, the prizes will be announced ahead of the tournament when available.

The following tiebreaker will be used to determine the winners:

1. Score (in the best qualifier played)
2. Average score of opponents played (in that best qualifier)
3. Own blitz rating at start of the best qualifier, lower wins.

(1), (2) and (3) will be used as reported by the tournament bot after the qualifier finishes. In the unlikely case that there is still a tie after those tiebreaks, prizes will be split.

Special Rating Rules Restrictions (Class Prize Rules)

Class prize eligibility is based on rating being below limit BOTH at the start of the ICC First Sunday Showdown, AND upon its conclusion. In addition, the "best" rating must not be higher than 200 points above the rating class limit already established by the player. Furthermore, management reserves the right to deny a prize to anyone for any reason, who does not belong in a rating class section.

In order to prevent abuse of any type, ICC will implement strict rules regarding class prize eligibility. Please understand that in any case, the decision by ICC management regarding this is FINAL and cannot be appealed.

By entering the tournament, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these rules:

1. You can win only one class prize.

One player only wins the highest prize he achieves in any class he is eligible to. In case there are two prizes in the same amount a player could win, he wins the one in the highest rating class. To illustrate this, consider the following order:

  Player    Rating       Best Score
  Player A    1950              8.0
  Player B    2100              7.5
  Player C    2150              7.0
  Player D    1850              6.5

Here, Player A would be eligible to win the first prize in U2200 and U2000. He receives the first prize in U2200, and is disregarded in the U2000 standings. 
Player B thus finishes second in U2200, Player C finishes third in U2200, and Player D wins U2000. In contrast, in this situation:

  Player    Rating       Best Score
  Player B    2100              8.0
  Player A    1950              7.5
  Player C    2150              7.0
  Player D    1850              6.5

Player B here wins U2200, and Player A, although second in U2200, is disregarded in that class, as he wins U2000. Player C finishes second in U2200 and Player D finishes second in U2000.

2. Your blitz rating must be below the class limit at both the start of the qualifier and the reference date.

In order to minimize abuse, ICC requires that in order to be eligible for a class, the rating of a player must have been below the class limit not only when the tournament is played but also immediately before this tournament was announced, at the reference date. The reference date is June 21, 2018. Please note that this implies that your account must have existed on the reference date in order to be eligible for any class prizes.

3. To be eligible for Class Prizes, you must have played at least 100 rated games in the Blitz category before the start of your qualifier. (Other similar rating categories, 3-min and 5-min pools, may be considered)

4. Your best (Blitz) rating must not be more than 200 points over the class limit.

Best ratings achieved more than 1 year ago are disregarded for this rule. Instead, a best rating from within the last year, as determined by the rating graph, will be used to establish eligibility. On the other hand, all best ratings you have achieved on previous accounts used by you in the past year do count. Example: You are rated 1650, your best rating is 1950, but on another account you have achieved 2050 two months ago. You will not be eligible for the U1800 class (but might still be eligible for the U2000 class).

5. You are ineligible for ANY class prizes, if you have abused the rating system within the last 12 months.

On top of (2) through (5), note that ICC management reserves the right to declare any player ineligible for a certain class. Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process. We appreciate the cooperation of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honorable, and running smoothly.

Cash prizes will be paid by check. Other payment methods may be possible, but require the approval of ICC.